1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a windshield wiper protector, in particular, to a windshield wiper protector which lifts up the wiper from the surface of the car front window when not in use by control of the car engine initiating switch so as to prolong the lifetime of the wiper.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A windshield wiper is used to clear away wet muddy dust stuck on the car front window for enhancing the visibility of the driver.
The windshield wiper constantly in contact with the car window surface is subjected to the sun light, radiation, the wind attack, air contamination, and frictional abrasion with the windglass so that its lifetime is easily shortened by elastic fatigue.
For a remedy, a windshield wiper protector appeared on the market, which is capable of lifting up the wiper from the surface of the car front window when the wiper is not in use so as to prolong the wiper""s lifetime. However, it is regretful that the product has not stimulated successfully the desire of users to use it since it is too complicated in construction resulting in a high rate of failure. Moreover, the product is manually operated that reduces its effectiveness a lot if the user often forgets its existence and leaves it in contact with the wind glass even not in use.
In view of this situation, the present inventor disclosed xe2x80x9cWindshield Wiper Protectorxe2x80x9d and was patented by U.S. Pat. No. 6,286,175 which provided a windshield wiper protector with very satisfactory operational effect. Soon afterwards it was found that this new designed product was still unable to excite the user""s interest because of its bulky size and high production cost that reflected to the market with a high sales price. Definitely, one step forward improvement is absolutely necessary.
In view of the foregoing situation, the inventor of the present invention thus wrestled with this problem once more by conducting intensive research based on repeated experiments and simulations with newly added controlling components such as relays and limit switches for further degree of protection for the windshield wiper, and finally has succeeded to come out with this ingeniously designed windshield wiper protector.
It is a main object of the present invention to provide a windshield wiper protector, which can lift up the wiper with a precise control movement, from the surface of the car front window when the wiper is not in use so as to prolong its lifetime.
A windshield wiper protector which can fulfil the above mentioned object comprises a protector housing, a driving motor, a relay, a pair of speed changing (reduction) gear units, a rack, and two limit switches. The protector housing is mounted on the arm of the windshield wiper, and the driving motor is equipped in the protector housing, the relay which being actuated by a car engine initiation switch, is for controlling starting and rotating direction of the motor. One of the speed reduction gear unit is in mesh with a screw threaded rod of the motor for serving as an input side, while the other speed reduction gear unit is in mesh with a rack for serving as an output side. One end of the rack is emerged out of the protector housing towards the front window of the car with an adjusting screw provided to the end thereof for adjusting its own length and fixed at the adjusted position with a nut. At both ends of the rack in the protector housing, there are formed two protuberances which are moved to touch the two correspondingly located limit switches as the rack displaces thereby transmitting signals to the relay for operation of the motor.